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I'm sure my bias is showing, but I think my mom's solution worked pretty well. No such thing as limiting screen time, but I did have limits on the kinds of acti

I'm sure my bias is showing, but I think my mom's solution worked pretty well. No such thing as limiting screen time, but I did have limits on the kinds of activities I was allowed to do and when. No video games on school nights. Sunday is fine but only before dinner and only if my homework was finished. Computer time was limited to half an hour and only if my homework was finished, and I could only run whitelisted "educational" software. No formal limits on TV watching, but in practice my parents had grown up shows they wanted to watch that I found boring, so my TV time was effectively limited to e.g. when they were busy cooking dinner. No limits for any activity on weekends as long as homework, chores, and miscellaneous family activities were done. I thought of this as digital pig-out time, and I'm sure my parents thought of it as, "do what we want because the kids are playing video games" time. All the above activity limits expired when I got into high school. I guess they'd rather me do nerd stuff than getting into trouble with drugs, alcohol, or girls. And indeed, I spent this time teaching myself C so I guess it worked. No children of our own yet, but we plan to adopt a similar system, with modern internet-connected screens like phones and/or tablets lumped into the "computer time" category.

friend_and_foe 4y ago
I'm guessing you're in your 30s, maybe late 20s, this is how most of us grew up. It's not the same anymore. "Nerd stuff" these days is watching Disney movies and playing games. We taught ourselves nerd stuff because we had to dig to get to the candy inside. These days you don't have to dig, one click install and done, the digging is grinding for loot boxes or whatever. A person can use these machines hours a day every day of the week for years and not learn a single thing about actually operating them, they're kiosks for consumption to most people. To learn real nerd stuff requires deliberate effort now.
- VyseofArcadia 4y ago
  Hit the nail on the head. I'm in my mid-30s. To learn anything on your own has always required effort. I've been driving almost every day for 20 years, and I still don't really know anything about cars. My mother-in-law has been using a computer every day since 1985, and she knows less about computers than I do about cars. "Needing to dig" is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for learning. I feel like the lack of a need to dig is a double-edged sword if anything. I knew I wanted to program the computer, but I had to scour the card catalog at the library for anything related to computers to find anything at all, and most of what I found was about BASIC. Now? It's a click away. On the other hand, I know where to look for information, how to read the docs, etc.
  - friend_and_foe 4y ago
    I guess you're right. Still, in the 1930s, if you owned a car you knew how to quick repair on the road, so you knew a thing or two about the machine. The workings of things we use do get hidden behind veneers over time as the industries around them mature and they become widely used, there is an element of needing to dig, but I'm probably overstating it. If someone wants to learn how to do the complex stuff you're right, it is easier to do so now, but it's less crucial, and having these tools in your life isn't as synonymous with learning how they work as it used to be.

friend_and_foe 4y ago

I'm guessing you're in your 30s, maybe late 20s, this is how most of us grew up. It's not the same anymore. "Nerd stuff" these days is watching Disney movies and playing games. We taught ourselves nerd stuff because we had to dig to get to the candy inside. These days you don't have to dig, one click install and done, the digging is grinding for loot boxes or whatever. A person can use these machines hours a day every day of the week for years and not learn a single thing about actually operating them, they're kiosks for consumption to most people. To learn real nerd stuff requires deliberate effort now.

VyseofArcadia 4y ago
Hit the nail on the head. I'm in my mid-30s. To learn anything on your own has always required effort. I've been driving almost every day for 20 years, and I still don't really know anything about cars. My mother-in-law has been using a computer every day since 1985, and she knows less about computers than I do about cars. "Needing to dig" is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for learning. I feel like the lack of a need to dig is a double-edged sword if anything. I knew I wanted to program the computer, but I had to scour the card catalog at the library for anything related to computers to find anything at all, and most of what I found was about BASIC. Now? It's a click away. On the other hand, I know where to look for information, how to read the docs, etc.
- friend_and_foe 4y ago
  I guess you're right. Still, in the 1930s, if you owned a car you knew how to quick repair on the road, so you knew a thing or two about the machine. The workings of things we use do get hidden behind veneers over time as the industries around them mature and they become widely used, there is an element of needing to dig, but I'm probably overstating it. If someone wants to learn how to do the complex stuff you're right, it is easier to do so now, but it's less crucial, and having these tools in your life isn't as synonymous with learning how they work as it used to be.